A visit to our family deity (Ukkadai mariyamman) was long overdue and what better time than when mine and my brother's holidays coincided. But my parents have a bad habit of including as many temples in one trip as is just enough for a normal person to become an atheist. This trip however was different. Somewhat like the last one and possibly even better. Because instead of going to the most famous temples that one ought to visit in one's lifetime (all of which have been covered by us already in less than one fifth of my lifetime), we visited the leftover not-so-famous places of Tamil Nadu. But I now have the feeling that these are the temples that ought to be visited by all. Not only were they powerful deities each carrying their own strong legends, but they were architecturally and spatially one of THE most marvelous temples, I have ever seen. And it pains me to see that they were far less "crowded" (famous would be a better word as I prefer a temple to be less crowded), than the small roadside temple near my house. They were uncared for, people looking after these temples didn't have three square meals a day, the temple premises were not maintained properly, no proper access roads or directions leading to them. How would they then have the money to perform the regular poojas, yagnas, abhishekams, alangarams and annadaanams? Remember that the money donated in Hundial is not even enough for buying the Karpooram, Vibhudhi, Kungumam, Poo etc(in the case of less visited temples). It was in this trip I learned that traditionally there were few acres of land in the name of the temple and they were given to be maintained by a local landlord, who had to see to it that the agricultural profits from those lands would go towards maintaining the temples. And the temple authorities would maintain those records. Nowadays, some temple lands have been sold without records, some being eaten up by those in-charge of maintaining it and some more not maintained properly. And to top it all, one-third of the "profits" of a Hindu temple go to the government by law which is not the case for any Mosque or Church, were the authorities have the "choice" of sharing their profits with the Govt. And no one is supposed to talk about such issues in this Secular country (supposedly populated by a Hindu majority). And I too don't want to get into the details.
Coming back to the temples... Here's the list of the temples I visited this trip. Hope you get a chance to visit them in your lifetime (yaam petra "inbam" peruga ivvayagame) -
1) Manakulavinayagar, Pondicherry - Any pilgrimage we go by car would start with this one, as the first major stop after Chennai is Podicherry. And it is auspicious to start with Vinayagar. Well maintained, nice temple. One thing that I love about Pondy is its well-planned roadways. All straight, cemented roads, no dead ends, every place leading to every other. Wish the French had taked over India instead of the British.
2) Kuthanoor Saraswathi - Goddess of knowledge. Privately maintained, clean. But bad access road and not much crowd. Shops outside sold pens. If we write with the pen blessed by the goddess, we'll do well in our exams. I bought a pen and I'm sure I'm gonna be a ten pointer this sem. So guys beware.
3) Thiruveezhimazhalai - Sivan temple. MUST SEE. Easily the best temple this trip. Huge tank (with WATER!!!!). HUGE temple. Sad that we were the only ones in the temple apart from the Kurukkal. So he was our guide too.(who would get such an opportunity?). The temple was a little more than 2000(!@#$%^&!!!!!!) years old. Legend goes that Vishnu asked the advice of Shiva when he lost his Sudarshana Chakra in his fight with Jaladhasura. Jaladasura, though he was an asura, had the habit of throwing a Vilva leaf on a Sivalingam and saying "Om Namah Sivaya" everyday. And this punya credit was the reason Vishnu lost his Chakra when he attacked him. So as a remedy he had to take the form of a Human and worship Shiva with one lakh lotus everyday. One day, one flower was less in the one lakh. So Vishnu removed his eye and placed it as the last flower. And that day he got his vimochana and his chakra back. This temple resembled Kailasha Darisanam, where the temple was constructed in the same way as His Abode in Kailash, on the day of his marriage with Parvathi. So this deity was also called Mapillai Swamy. The entance pillars were like the Mandapam of a Kalyanam and the pillars near them resembled the Vaazhamaram. This was THE FIRST temple where I saw Shiva idol(with Parvathi)in Human form (height of 15 feet approx.) apart from the Lingam (which is what is present in all other shiva temples, I had seen.) The inner Gopuram had the shape of a Ratha with Shiva seated and Indra riding the chariot resembling the Groom's arrival. The Pappaya tree in the temple was more than a hundred years old. And I'm not joking about the years here (both the tree and the temple) as they had been verified by three different chronologists and found true. This was the place were Thirugnanasambandhar had asked for food in a house during famine and was refused, as there was no food. And he had appealed to Lord Shiva who gave him gold coins and asked him to perform annadhana for the people there, till the famine was over. There were a dozen more stories about the temple. I'll stop with this. On the whole, it was a HUGE temple (I don't have any other word to describe its size), with walls like that of fortress on two sides as you go around the temple.
4) Oppiliappan - Vishnu temple. Place where sage Markandaya's daughter Aandal married Vishnu. Originally the name was Oppiliappan meaning One who cannot be compared (Oppilla). But by people's mispronunciation it became Uppiliappan, since when all offerings to the god were without salt and devotees of the God didn't include salt in their food. Supposedly, Aandal's offerings to the God were saltless. I'm reminded of Vivek's Pavadai Samiyar. The temple as such was well maintained and more visited. Dunno why Vishnu temples are better maintained than Shiva temples in our state, though the Shiva temples are architecturally superior. If the State Govt. declared the temples as Monuments, I believe the Archaeological Society of India which is under the Central Govt. would maintain such marvels, better than they are being maintained now.
5) Ukkadai Mariamman - Story goes that, my grandfather's grandfather's father came upon a Mariamman idol when he was digging his land. He built a temple for that and since then it became our family deity. 15 kms off Thanjavur.
6) Thirubuvanam - Sarabeshwarar. God with lion face, Shiva's body, one wing Kali, one wing Durga, claws of eagle, tail of elephant. When Vishnu took the narasimha avatar, his anger after killing Hiranyakashyap was uncontrollable. So shiva, kali and durga decided to take the form of Sarabeshwarar to pacify him. Sarabeshwarar caught hold of Narasimha and flew to space till he was cool again. Also the blood of the asura was prevented from falling on the earth. So, if any of you is being tortured by your boss or co-woker or teacher and you can't attack them directly. There's a Sarabeshwarar Gayathri Mantram, which if you chant daily, your torturer will fear you and treat you with more respect. This temple was also HUGE and architecturally excellent. The pillars were intricately carved and joined together without any adhesive. The Kurukkal was also expressing his amazement at the construction and said that they were reconstructing the Gopuram outside for Kumbabishekam and one stone in that structure costed 5 lakhs. They were using 20 such stones. Imagine how much it would have cost to construct the entire temple!!!
7) Thiruvidaimarudhur -
Mahalingeswarar and Mohambal( name changed later to Mookambika due to mispronunciation). My grandmother's birthplace. Brahmahathi (Hathi- sin caused by a murder - Brahminicide) is found in the south wall (south torana vayil) with head disheveled and face immersed betwixt the knees. Varaguna Pandiya’s horse accidentally crushed a Brahmin and killed him. The sin followed wherever he went. The king came to this temple. The Brahmahathi could not enter and waited outside. The king went out by another entrance. The Brahmahathi is waiting outside still. The king was relieved of his melody. People inflicted with mental disorders go round the circumambulatory path and get redress. The king was so afraid that he ran as fast as he could to Thirubuvanam (1 km away) and the Shiva there relieved him of his nervousness. Anybody having any fear, nervous disorder etc. will be cured if they see the Lingam in Thirubuvanam.
8) Swamimalai - Murugan. Been there before. But this time we had the opportunity to see the abhishekam.
9) Seerkazhi - Sivan. Everytime we would see the Chidambaram temple. So this time we decided to see the Seerkazhi temple. Wonderful choice. It was the place where Thirugnanasambandhar drank the Gnanapaal from Parvathi. In this temple you can see Shiva in three forms. Creator - Brahmalingam at the ground floor. Protector - Shiva and Parvathi took human form when there was a huge flood in earth and came in a rowboat to protect the people. This was the second temple where I saw Shiva in Human form. Destroyer - When Vishnu took the Vamana avatar, he measured the three worlds taking superhuman form. His arrogance and ego became uncontrollable and the Gods didn't know how to control him. They asked Lord Shiva, who helped to destroy the Vamana avatar. He tore the him apart and wore his skin as dress. He came to be called Sattanadhar and resembled vamana avatar as he was wearing his skin as the dress. Wish more people would visit this temple.
As you see, each temple has its own stories and greatness. Indian Government should develop tourism in these places and capitalise on the only thing that makes this country so special - heritage. Some idiots spend thousands of dollars to visit a house which was once inhabited by Shakepeare. Why? Proper marketing. We can survive in this competitive world only if we learn how to market ourselves. Some countries with nothing in their lands attract thousands of tourists. When we have so much wealth where do we lack????
